I had a discussion about this with someone recently and I realize that there is probably a lot of others out there that don't realize what the difference between human grade and vet grade really means.

For most people, they really don't care about the difference between the two. They figure, "well if it is good enough for animals, it must be good enough for humans!" IE, if it doesn't seem to kill animals, then it won't kill me!

First off, Human grade is "pharmaceutical Grade". Pharmaceutical grade is defined as: Pharmaceutical Grade - meets pharmaceutical standards. There are several criteria by which pharmaceutical grade is judged. The product must be in excess of 99% purity with no binders, filters, dyes, or unknown substances.

Standards are regulated by a number of organizations including the FDA in the US. But there are different standards for Veterinary and pharmaceutical products within and outside of the United states. For example, in the supplement industry, the quality standards differ for both production and formulation of drugs and supplements. In example of r ALA, the american and european standard is 99% purity, where in other places it is as low as 90%. Beyond that, the production standards can be quite different. The highest quality for standards of production, packaging and compounding comes from the United States Pharmacopeia specifications (USP). USP standards have long been respected and trusted within the scientific and manufacturing community.

The standards of production for animals and humans are definitely different. One of the main examples is the purity standards for the compound and the contaminent level. For human pharmaceutical grade, the standards are so high as to limit the amount of any contaminent in the compound. For animals, it is much lower, meaning that there can be found contaminants that would never meet the Human standards. It is much cheaper to produce a veterinary grade product. An easy example of this would be in the holding tanks for the solutions. A veterinary grade solution could be held in an aluminum tank, where aluminum could leach off into the solution. A human grade solution would be required to be held in a glass lined tank to prevent metal contamination. Now, of course the metal contaminent would be in relatively low levels, but with frequent human use of this solution, aluminum levels could continue to build up in the system over time causing a whole host of health problems. Aluminum poisoning has been linked to Dementia in humans as well as hair loss. (1). Citric acid and fluoride allow aluminum to pass the blood brain barrier, and both are readily ingested by humans on a continual basis.

That is just one example of a contaminent that can easily be found in a veterinary grade product.

It goes beyond the tanks as well. Oftentimes, a facility is producing multiple veterinary drugs and cross contamination can occur as well, such that the components of one drug is found in small amounts in another via equipment transfer. The human grade products and especially USP have very strict controls on the sterility of the equipment used to manufacture drugs so that this will not occur.

The bottom line is that one should pay attention to whether or not a compound is Human grade or vet grade. The best indication of whether or not a compound is of high quality is if it is labeled "USP" beyond that, one should look for the country of origin, and the intended use of the product, be it for animals or humans.

For products like B12, I would not buy anything that was not intended for humans. B12 is made in bulk and the aluminum vs glass tanks is a very real concern. Research-Ology.com B12 is absolutely human grade and even though it is more expensive than vet grade, I would pay it. It isn't worth alzheimers disease. The CEMlabs products are all USP grade. Research-Ology.com products are all human pharmaceutical grade with a minimum of 99% purity. The DMSO that cemproducts is bringing on is USP grade, and there is only one place to get it. If you use DMSO, you would be a fool to use anything else than USP grade. Other DMSO is intended for use as an industrial solvent, so there are absolutely no restrictions governing quality control at all! For something that is permeating your skin and going right into your system, you owe it to yourself to get the highest quality stuff you can.

For steroids, I would be cautious, but considering what exactly goes into the process, I wouldn't worry TOO much unless you are cycling more than a couple of times a year. Most steroids consist of an oil, BA and/or BB (which is a sterilizer) and then the steroidal compound itself. In that case, you would most likely only need be concerned with the quality of the steroidal componenet and possibly the oil. If you make it yourself, then you have even greater control.

Anyway, I hope this clears things up. I will be certain to add more information as I get it.

The thing about any UG lab is that UG labs aren't subject to oversight, documentation standards, etc. So, you just don't _know_ how good and clean their product is. And just because batch #1 from an UG lab is good doesn't mean that batch #2 will be the same.

A few months ago I suggested that it was possible for an UG lab to produce a clean, sterile product that some might call 'human grade.' In response, I was told that human grade means pharmaceutical grade. So be it; I have corrected my understood definition of 'human grade'.